Rear Adm. Ted “Slapshot” Cartercompletes 2,000 career traps

USS Enterprise (CVN 65)

The Shuttle Newsletter Edition

“We are Legend”

2,000!

September 5, 2012 Issue

Rear Adm. Ted “Slapshot” Carter completes 2,000 career traps

Rear Adm. Ted Carter, Jr., commander, Enterprise Carrier Strike Group, completes his 2,000th arrested landing. (Photo by MC3 Scott Pittman)

Story by Enterprise Carrier Strike Group Public Affairs On August 20, 1983, Cmdr. “Thunder” Bud Taylor, the prospective executive officer for Fighter Squadron (VF) 151 landed aboard aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) in an F-4S Phantom to qualify for his return to the Fleet. For Taylor, this was not a new experience. He had done it many times before. However, in the back seat for that trap was a young Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) making his first ever arrested landing aboard an aircraft carrier. What neither of the aviators in the Phantom that day knew was that nearly 30 years later, the aviator in the back seat would go on to complete 1,999 more traps; more than any aviator (Pilot or NFO) in the history of Naval Aviation.

Although it marked the end of a specific flight, that trap in 1983 marked the beginning of Rear Adm. Ted Carter’s journey through 30 years of flight, 6,000 flight hours, 11 deployments, arrested landings aboard 18 aircraft carriers and over 100 combat missions. The journey that began that day reached a historic peak September 4, 2012 aboard aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) when Carter, in an F/A-18 Super Hornet assigned to the Red Rippers of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 11, completed his 2,000th trap.

Although 2,000 traps marks a milestone not previously attained by any aviator with wings of gold, Carter, currently the commander of Carrier Strike Group 12, is quick to point out that the credit for this achievement says more about Naval Aviation than it does about him personally.

“I think a much bigger story can be told about Naval Aviation and that this has happened for someone who has been flying for 30 years without a mishap,” said Carter. “The safety record of Naval Aviation

has come such a long way, and it’s much more a credit to how we have evolved in our operations and trust across our ship and air wing teams.

The trap record is indeed very closely tied to the evolution of Naval Aviation and the safety practices associated with flight operations. Carter’s journey to 2,000 actually serves as a prime example of the advancements made in the field over the course of the last three decades.

“What I saw and remember on my first deployment in USS Midway was three F-4’s crashed into the water from my own squadron. We lost two pilots,” said Carter. “That was a very tough introduction. Losing friends, losing squadron mates…and now, to see where we are today, we’ve gotten so much better over the years. If you sum all of it up it’s the talent, trust and teamwork in our business which has been elevated to such a level that you can’t ignore it with a milestone like this.”

It is this trust and faith that Carter thinks about every time he walks to a jet to launch from the flight deck, a walk he has made quite a bit over his career.

“I think about the plane captain who prepares the jet, the troubleshooters who do the final look over the jet, the maintainers who have actually gone inside the jet to make sure the engines, the flight controls and all the avionics work to be able to safely fly the jet,” said Carter. “I think about the 600 men and women working in Air Department who manage the catapults and the arresting gear. I think about the taxi directors who move us. I think about the Landing Signal Officers (LSOs) who keep us safe during those last critical seconds of flight. When you think about how many people are

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Congratulations to Rear Ad 2,000 continued from page 1 responsible for every single flight, it’s mind-boggling.”

Faith in those around him, those responsible for preparing any aircraft he flies in, is something that, to this day, Carter has not lost.

“There is no higher compliment to give to somebody than to look at them and say that I trust that you did your job well,” said Carter. “For example, the young Sailor who gets underneath on the launch bar of a jet to make sure it’s in the catapult shuttle.

There is nobody else who can do that safety check except that young Sailor. That takes a lot of guts. I trust that Sailor to do that job and even now I’m still fascinated. I cannot watch a jet launch without being in total admiration of that young Sailor. Every time I watch it, I want to know who that Sailor is and I want to shake his or her hand and say ‘thank you, you’re the last check before that jet launches.’”

It is not only military personnel Carter credits with enabling Naval Aviation to evolve to a point where an individual aviator could achieve 2,000 arrested landings, however.

“Credit also has to go to the engineers who designed our aircraft carriers, those who built these propulsion plants to be able to safely move a carrier through the water so it can make its own wind and we can take off and land, and the civilian engineers who designed these phenomenal airplanes,” said Carter. “It’s a remarkable job that the engineers have done to create these airplanes to fly so well and so safely.”

Over the years, in addition to the hundreds of pilots he has flown with, thousands of Sailors, Marines and civilians have played at least some role in enabling Carter to set the trap record, an achievement he calls “the ultimate team effort.”

All of their work, however, would’ve been for naught were it not for Carter’s knack for being in the “right place at the right time.”

“Every outfit I ever flew with was at the height of whatever operation we were in,” said Carter, “from the Cold War and the build-up of the 600-ship Navy to Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Southern Watch, Kosovo operations in Operation Allied Force, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and, even here on Enterprise’s final deployment. You cannot substitute just being in the right place at the right time.”

For Carter, a serendipitous string of duty assignments, consistently putting him in the proverbial right place at the right time, began with orders to Fighter Squadron (VF) 161, the Rock Rivers, as part of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, embarked aboard USS Midway (CVA 41).

He arrived aboard in September 1983 and was immediately involved in Cold War operations following the Soviet Union’s shootdown of airliner KAL 007.

“My first launch off of Midway, in an F-4, was to go intercept a Soviet TU-95 Bear aircraft,” said Carter. “It was an over 300mile intercept, and I got to come back and land, at night, aboard Midway. That was my first sortie and then I went on from there.”

This was but one of 339 arrested landings Carter would eventually complete aboard Midway over the course of three

Rear Adm. Ted Carter, commander, Enterprise Carrier Strike Group, and Lt. Cmdr. Jacob Rosales, assigned to the Red Rippers of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 11, fly in an F/A-18F Super Hornet above aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65).

(Photo by MC3 Scott Pittman)

deployments, setting him well on his way to 2,000.

“Part of the reason I have so many traps is because we were the operational arm of naval aviation at the time,” said Carter.

“We were the forward deployed aircraft carrier. For those that may wonder how I ended up getting so many more traps than other operational aviators, the truth is, I started out with a lot because of the operations and then immediately transitioned to the F-14 during the height of the build-up to the 600-ship Navy.”

Carter was not the only aviator transitioning to a new aircraft at the time and, with an assignment to the Gunfighters of Fighter Squadron (VF) 124 in Miramar, Calif., as an instructor facilitating F-14 aircrew initial and replacement training, he was tasked with flying and teaching young pilots how to make their first successful landing in an F-14 Tomcat, a task he successfully completed…a lot. During this time, literally hundreds of student pilots were assigned to VF-124. Carter was there to instruct many of them. By the time he left VF-124, as a Lieutenant to return to the Fleet, Carter had made more than 800 carrier landings personally qualifying 23 Category I pilots and many other experienced pilots returning for Fleet operations.

“The reason I have a few more traps on USS Constellation (CV 64), USS Independence (CV 62), USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), and USS Enterprise (CVN 65), is that those four ships were the primary carrier qualification ships on the West Coast from 1986 to 1990,” said Carter. “By 1990, if you were an F-14 pilot on the West Coast, I had probably flown with you… somewhere.”

The pace at which Carter was accumulating arrested landings during his years as an instructor was not something he thought about at the time, perhaps because of the time and effort involved in qualifying each pilot in the F-14. Before landing on a carrier, each of the pilots he was training had to complete nearly 100 carrier practice landings on a field. For Carter, this meant flying out to San Clemente Island, usually late at night, every night, to go flying. He wasn’t home very often during those four years while assigned as an instructor. Instructor duty was far from easy for both Carter and his family, but it was an investment he was willing to make.

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dm. Ted Carter on 2,000 traps those four years while assigned as an instructor. Instructor duty was far from easy for both Carter and his family, but it was an investment he was willing to make.

“I enjoyed that teaching role as much as anything I did in the airplane, and I got to do just about everything you could do in an airplane, from combat operations to air shows to training,” said Carter. “To me, it was the ultimate gift…to be able to see the light-bulb come on for a young aviator when he or she said, ‘I got it. I see the picture and I can do this.’”

Instructor duty with the Gunslingers was just one example of how a fortuitous duty assignment had helped Carter achieve a record number of arrested landings. But, there is more to this achievement than timing, there is more to it than the evolution of naval aviation, more to it than the technical acumen and ability to transition from the F-4 to the F-14 to the F/A-18, even more to it than the skill and dedication displayed daily by those who work tirelessly to make jets fly. The consistency and longevity required to attain 2,000 carrier arrested landings can only be achieved through a deep-seated desire and drive to fly…by a love of aviation.

“Make no mistake about this, some people will say, ‘You’re a bagger,’ and I have never disputed that nomenclature, but I think of it another way,” said Carter. “I’ve never said no. In other words, when the opportunity came to go fly, no matter who it was with, no matter what the mission was, I would say ‘Yes, let’s go.’

I love the business that much.”

Carter didn’t say no when asked to lead the first strike into Kosovo April 6, 1999, despite the fact that while on that mission, he was confronted with anti-aircraft fire and surface-to-air missiles.

He didn’t say no when, as a young F-4 RIO, he was asked to fly again soon after making 13 approaches (and a lot of bolters) to Midway one night before finally recovering on a severely pitching deck.

He didn’t say no when he and his wife Lynda scheduled the delivery of their second child around a trip to a carrier so he could help a young aviator qualify in the F-14 (he still hears about this one at home!).

He never said no.

Carter would go on to make his 1,000th trap as a frocked Lt. Cmdr. at the age of 32 on October 31, 1991, with Cmdr. Chuck “Heater” Heatley (commanding officer of Fighter Squadron (VF) 21) aboard USS Independence (CV 62). He made his 1,500th trap on May 14, 1999, as the commanding officer of Fighter Squadron (VF) 14 with Rear Adm. Winston “Mad Dog” Copeland (Commander, Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group) on USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). He made his 1,800th trap on March 23, 2003, as a captain (he had just left his executive officer tour on USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75)) serving in an instructor role with Fighter Squadron (VF) 101 on USS George Washington (CVN 73).

Part of this can be attributed to his love of flying, but it also has to do with a certain inner peace Carter attains while in a jet, a feeling he still has now, even after more than 6,000 hours in a cockpit.

“I feel so comfortable in a cockpit. I feel most at home there, even in the most intense combat operations,” he said. “I’ve always felt comfortable once I got in the cockpit. I may have had some anxiety before, sometimes after a critical combat mission, but once I was in the cockpit, I became completely calm. To this day, it doesn’t matter what the cockpit is, I feel at ease in a cockpit.”

It’s a sense of ease built upon a foundation of training and trust in those around him, but Carter is more than aware that, despite all the advances in safety practices and technology over the years, carrier aviation is a dangerous business.

“The old adage that you’re only as good as your last carrier landing is completely true,” said Carter. “There is no tenure in naval aviation. The dangers don’t care whether you have a 100, 1,500 or three arrested landings. The danger is still the same.”

Dealing with this danger is not something Carter has done alone. Beyond the many pilots he has flown with, he has made it to this point in his career with the help of many others, but foremost, in his mind, is his wife Lynda.

“If I had to single out one person who has not only allowed this to happen but was the biggest support, it would be Lynda,” Carter said. “Lynda was there from the first trap. We got married in July of 1982 so, from my first trap all the way up through now, she has been loyal, loving and understanding. She understands the risks. She was there with me when we had those tragedies early on in my career. I’ve lost fellow back-seaters as well as pilots, close friends who were in the same business as I was, so we understood the risks…always.”

With risk, however, often comes reward. For Carter, that reward came in the form of his historic 2,000th trap aboard Enterprise as the carrier continued its unprecedented 25th and final deployment.

“What a great milestone for Naval Aviation. What a great milestone for Enterprise on her final deployment,” said Carter.

“This is a testimony to the over 200,000 Sailors and Marines who have deployed and operated aboard Enterprise. In reaching this milestone, I think of every plane captain who ever launched me in an F-4, F-14 or in an F/A-18 from so many different carrier decks. I think of the excitement on their faces when they’d see an airplane come back successfully from a combat mission and we aviators would get out of the jet and say, ‘Thanks it was a great jet.’ Those Sailors have a special piece in all of this.

Two thousand traps. It’s an achievement built upon more than 100 years of Naval Aviation. It’s an achievement built upon hundreds of thousands of Sailors and Marines facilitating the launching of jets over the years. It’s an achievement built upon advancements in health, safety and technology. It’s an achievement built upon dedication, desire, trust and support.

But, perhaps more than anything else, what will be remembered about September 4, 2012 is that on this day, a day when a Naval Flight Officer achieved 2,000 arrested landings, a legendary accomplishment was achieved aboard a legendary warship, one that has played a part in so many historical moments, by a now legendary aviator, Rear Admiral Ted “Slapshot” Carter.

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Big E Happenings

Rear Adm. Ted Carter, commander, Enterprise Carrier Strike Group, steps out of his plane after completing his 2,000th flight deck trap.

(Photo by MC3 Randy J. Savarese)

Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Equipment) 3rd Class Jonathan Polanco, a Bronx, N.Y., native, assigned to Air department, V-2 division, records information into the shot log prior to catapult 3 firing its 100,000 launch.

(Photo by MC2 Robert Guerra)

Rear Adm. Ted Carter, commander, Enterprise Carrier Strike Group, in an F/A-18F Super Hornet, completes his 2,000th flight deck trap.

(Photo by MC3 Scott Pittman)

Rear Adm. Ted Carter is congratulated

by Capt. William C. Hamiltion, Jr. after he completed his 2,000th trap.

(Photo by MC3 Randy J. Savarese)

The Shuttle USS Enterprise (CVN 65)

The Shuttle is published and printed daily underway and bi-weekly in port by the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) Media Department, FPO AE 09543-2810. This newspaper is an authorized publication for members of the Department of Defense. Please direct all story ideas, questions and comments to MC1 (SW) Steve Smith at smithsw@cvn65. navy.mil.

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An EA-6B Prowler, assigned to the Rooks of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 137, launches from the flight deck as the 100,000th launch from catapult 3. (Photo by MC3 Scott Pittman)